On April 20, 8:33 AM (Local Texas Time), SpaceX’s first-ever integrated Starship rocket — currently the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — left the ground and soared high in the Texas sky. The rocket’s flight was short-lived, however, lasting only under four minutes before meeting an explosive end. During its short journey, Starship was able to reach a max altitude of 24 miles (39 kilometers).

Starship’s explosion seems to be a failure for us not involved in the project. But for the SpaceX staff, the first test flight was a huge success. While the goal is to get Starship outside and back into the Earth’s atmosphere, and finally land on the Pacific Ocean, this test flight was more “about gathering data and responding properly to whatever ended up happening,” according to SpaceX representatives.

Kate Tice, for example, remarked during the webcast that “everything after clearing the tower was icing on the cake.”

John Insprucker, the company’s Principal Integration Engineer, described the test as “incredible.”

The Starship’s upper stage was supposed to separate from the Super Heavy first stage three minutes after liftoff. Unfortunately, the two remained connected, so the rocket was ordered to self-destruct. (Yep. The explosion was intentional.)

SpaceX explained that the rocket experienced multiple engines out, which caused it to lose altitude and tumble, thus the command for a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” (their term for the self-destruction process).

(Image Credit: SpaceX)

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass noticed they had a lot of food-themed song titles, and decided to put them together for their sixth album, Whipped Cream & Other Delights. Photographer Peter Whorf had a vision for the album cover, and hired Dolores Erickson for a photoshoot in which she appeared to be covered with whipped cream (actually shaving cream, except for the fluff on her head). When Whorf presented the images to the band, Alpert thought they were too racy and would never go over. When Erickson saw them months later, she was appalled, and hid them from her husband.

But the band decided to use one of the pictures, and the album Whipped Cream & Other Delights sold six million copies. The only hit single from the album was "A Taste of Honey," which peaked at #7 in the US, but everyone wanted the full album when they saw the cover. Read the story of the picture that sold the album and became a classic at Vintage Everyday. -via Strange Company

As a bonus, continue reading to see some of the recreations and parodies of the album cover I found while looking for an illustration for this post.

Don Powell and his wife moved into a new home in Orchard Lake, Michigan five years ago. They ordered a custom-made mailbox that is larger than a standard mailbox and resembles their home with windows and everything. It even has a solar powered interior light. Cool huh? But it got much cooler last August, when Powell opened the mailbox to find two dolls and a note that said, “We’ve decided to live here. Mary and Shelley.” They were sitting on a miniature couch.

Powell asked his neighbors, but no one admits knowing anything about the dolls. He left the dolls in the mailbox, because there is still plenty of room for mail. Later on, the dolls collected more miniature furniture and accessories, including a dog, Halloween decorations, and a Christmas tree. At some point, the dolls' cousin Shirley moved in to recuperate from a broken leg. Powell has been documenting the dolls' shenanigans on his Nextdoor neighborhood group, and keeping the other members enthralled with the saga. Read the full story and see more pictures at Hometown Life. -via Metafilter
 
(Image credit: Don Powell)

In the Star Wars TV series The Mandalorian, the catch phrase is "This is the way." The words were uttered 24 times during the first season and 11 times during season two, so we already knew that's just what Mandalorians say. But that wasn't enough for Disney/Lucasfilm, who are obviously wanting to make every Star Wars fan use it as a greeting. During season three, there are 187 instances of "This is the way." Auralnauts took notice, and also saw how it was almost always said it in a particularly rhythmic way, just perfect for an electronic slow march beat mashup. The total count for the series so far is 222, but there is a bonus clip at the end where it might be another instance. This could be today's earworm; apologies in advance.   

I had cultivated a habit over the past few years of responding to "May the Force be with you" with "And also with you." I will be changing that now, to "This is the way." -via Laughing Squid

The title of the list is "5 Math Battles That Ended in Death," but that is a little misleading. Yes, there were math battles during the 16th century, but the consequences of those were more on the level of betting, they weren't deadly. The accounts of the five deadly incidents include one duel that may or may not have anything to do with math (but left a talented young mathematician dead), one possibly natural death, and three tragic cases of gifted mathematicians who suffered from obvious mental illness. One killed his family because it was the mathematically logical thing to do. One was so paranoid that he wouldn't eat anything unless his wife prepared it, and when she was hospitalized, he starved to death. Another committed suicide because he was afraid he would lose his math abilities due to cancer. Read all these mathematically sad tales from history at Cracked. 

Have you ever been in a discussion, online or in meatspace, when someone makes a pop culture reference and you have no idea why everyone is laughing? Sometimes that's a mention of a fictional company, like when a coworker refers to your own workplace as Dunder Mifflin, or someone says they ate at Los Pollos Hermanos because they couldn't recall the name of the restaurant. Yeah, that happens to me, too. While I am aware of popular movies and TV shows, I don't actually watch them. But you can quickly learn about the fictional businesses and government agencies made up for TV and movies at the Fictional Brands Archive.

It's a database of these companies listed in alphabetical order, with the pop culture world they come from. Click on an entry, and you'll be taken to a page with more information, like a description, logo, backstory, and pictures. Read up on the businesses of your favorite franchise, or bookmark the archive so you can refer to it in the future. -via Kottke

We finally caught him.
by u/Hashira_Oden in funny

What we have here is a dad performing his best dad joke. You can't help but laugh because he's really putting his heart into selling the silly scenario. The fact that he looks so "dad" with his mullet, knee socks, dad shorts, New Balance shoes, and Advil shirt only pushes our appreciation for him to new heights. He has discovered that there is no greater joy than making a baby laugh. That will continue for very young children, then turn into groans for adolescents and eye rolls from teenagers. By then, dad will take great joy in causing his kids embarrassment. That's how dads evolve. Still, even though dad gets the attention in this video, the greatest thrill for us is the baby's laughter. With an audience like that, you are impelled to put on a great show.

Suspension bridges are an engineering marvel, allowing access across water in all parts of the world. But they have their drawbacks. They must be somewhat flexible to avoid breaking apart, but if they move too much, they will break apart anyway. And strangely, a bridge full of pedestrians moving slowly puts more weight on a bridge than normal vehicle traffic. When soldiers march across a suspension bridge in unison, they can cause a bridge to sway rhythmically, called a "mechanical resonance." The Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England, was built in 1826. But in 1831, a unit of soldiers marched across the bridge in cadence, causing it to sway more than usual. They found this amusing and marched even harder. Then the bridge fell in. No one was killed in that incident, but the British army afterward enacted a policy to break cadence when crossing a bridge. Then in 1850, a French bridge fell under the same circumstances, killing 226 people!

The effect of marching on a suspension bridge became known, but it doesn't have to be a military unit marching in cadence to produce the effect, as other bridges have failed due to the natural cadence of crowds experiencing swaying while crossing a bridge. Read about this effect and the harrowing examples of what can happen at Amusing Planet.

See also: Embarrassing Moments in Engineering.

You probably know the basics of how Anne Sullivan changed an almost feral blind and deaf child into the highly educated Helen Keller, especially if you've seen the movie The Miracle Worker. But the movie (and play) only showed the most dramatic parts of a lifelong story. There's a lot more to learn about it, like how Anne Sullivan came to have the skills she would need to take on such a challenging job. She had overcome her family's poverty, learned how to deal with the world as a blind person, and worked alongside both blind and deaf students at school, including one who was both deaf and blind. Besides the unique experiences that armed Sullivan for the task of educating Helen Keller, she also possessed a combination of stubbornness and patience that led to great things for Keller later in her life. She took a very difficult job and saw it through, because she knew that success would be worth the effort.

The phrase “420” was almost certainly invented in the Bay Area in the early 1970s. But who said it first? That’s a controversial question.https://t.co/sfoxv6mckr

— SFGATE (@SFGate) April 20, 2023

Today is April 20, or 4/20, as Americans shorten it. That's become somewhat of a stoner holiday, as "420" is a code for smoking marijuana. When I was young, there were an awful lot of euphemisms for smoking pot, but 420 was unknown in my neck of the woods, because in the 1970s we didn't have instant communication via internet. However, today it's pretty much universal. Where did the number come from?

It more than 50 years ago at a high school in San Rafael, California. But there are two stories, from two different groups of high school friends, who both claim to have originated the number. They have been squabbling over it for years, and each has evidence to back up their stories. So was it the Waldos or the Beebs who coined 420? The Waldos have a more exciting story, but the Beebs story is earlier and simpler. Read the accounts of both sides from those who were there at SFGate. -via Boing Boing

Fixed it.#Flandalorian🍮 https://t.co/O3BaFiJ6Wj pic.twitter.com/5HTBfi6ZqU

— The Mad Maker (@The_MadMaker) April 19, 2023

Twitter user The Made Maker is a committed geek of the highest order. He's a Dungeons & Dragons streamer and 3D printer of fantasy art mugs and a rather clever set of dice that serves as a random name generator. In general, he's very creative, so it's fitting that it would occur to him to make this pun-driven dessert.

Din Djarin, the titular character of the space western series The Mandalorian is made of flan, a custard dessert. He's the Flandalorian.

普段の活動といえば150年前のアニメーションおもちゃを現代に甦らせて「博物ふぇすてぃばる」で発表したりしてます。どうぞよろしゅう。 pic.twitter.com/2XV2TTkpgF

— シカクガング (@shikakugangu) April 19, 2023

Japanese Twitter user @shikakugangu makes tiny automata that display little creatures in motion.

Mattea DiGirolamo of Kenilworth, New Jersey, is an impressive young athlete. She does gymnastics, karate, and t-ball. But it's clear that her priority is gymnastics. There's never an inappropriate time to do cartwheels. Telina Cuppari of Tap into Kenilworth reports that Mattea has gained viral internet fame by performing a cartwheel on her way to first base at a t-ball game.

That seems like an unnecessary risk to take and could get her tagged out. But it looks like Mattea can cartwheel as fast as she can run. If anything, her cartwheel distracted the infield players and allowed her to reach first base safely.

-via Buitengebieden

The movie Cocaine Bear is fiction, because we know that the real bear the story is based on died pretty quickly from consuming cocaine. But could a bear who drank 69 cans of soda pop go on a caffeine and sugar-fueled rampage? People near Earls Cove, British Columbia, might want to be on the lookout. That's where a bear broke into Sharon Rosel's car and helped himself to a ton of soda while Rosel could do nothing but watch. The bear spent an hour and a half biting off the tops of pop cans and drinking the contents. He started with the Orange Crush and went through them until he came to the diet sodas, then quit. Even wild bears have their standards.

The beast left Rosel's car a mess, tearing up the leather upholstery, breaking off the door handle, and of course, spilling soda all over everything. -via Damn Interesting

I used my audio editing skills to recover a buried @TheSimpsons joke. #Simpsons pic.twitter.com/H0gD1qO7vF

— Ewzzy Rayburn (@ewzzy) April 19, 2023

On April 23, 1992, The Simpsons episode titled "The Otto Show" aired on television.

The directors and show runners did very thorough work, including burying a joke deep inside the audio track of the episode. It begins with Homer recounting going to heavy metal concerts in his youth. Marge questions whether it impacted his hearing. We hear what Homer does through severe tinnitus. Marge is saying something, but the audience can't tell what.

Ewzzy Rayburn, a professional video editor, recovered Marge's line of dialogue from the audio track and isolated it in the above tweet.